Clarkson is said to have spent nights cavorting with Sage, who is seven years younger than his wife, Frances (pictured with Clarkson, above) — in luxury hotels in Norway and Australia while on the Top Gear Live tour. Their relationship was apparently no secret among colleagues.

Yesterday, Sage derided reports of the affair as "nonsense", saying: "Jeremy and I are friends, I have worked with him, er, them [the Top Gear team] for years."

As for having allegedly been seen going to Clarkson's hotel room at night, she said: "What? I often stay in colleagues' hotel rooms — that's not unusual."

Yeah, a single woman staying in a hotel room with a married man — that's not weird at all.